Family Is Everything
by BreatheSummerBay
Summary: A sequel to "Wedding Of The Opposites". The whole Braxton family needs to learn that family is everything the hard way.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey! Thank you so much for everyone who read my previous story, "Wedding Of The Opposites"! This story is the sequel to it which is set three years later so I hope you like it :-) xxx**_

_Story Information:__  
>Charlie works with Brax at Angelo's.<br>Brax and Charlie have a daughter called Alyssa Mackenzie Braxton who is 3 (she's the baby Charlie was pregnant with in "Wedding Of The Opposites").  
>Ruby is at uni, but also looks after Alyssa while Charlie and Brax are working.<br>Casey runs Romeo's surfing school with him.  
>Heath and Bianca are married with a 2 year old called Brianna Sierra Braxton.<br>Bianca is still a teacher.  
>Heath still walks around town doing nothing, although he does help out at Angelo's quite a bit.<br>Charlie, Brax, Casey, Ruby and Alyssa live together, and Heath, Bianca, Darcy and Brianna live next door to them._

**Chapter 1 **

Angelo's was a madhouse as soon as Charlie and Brax opened up the restaurant. Ever since they got married, it had gotten busier and busier each day. They had employed more staff while Charlie gave birth to their daughter Alyssa three years ago, and they've needed them more than ever. It was hard for Brax and Charlie to look after their little girl as well as running Angelo's, but luckily for them, Ruby could look after Alyssa on the days she wasn't at uni.

Alyssa was a good kid. She would listen to anyone and would always be on her best behaviour. Most people said she took after Charlie, but had Brax's eyes. Obviously, her behaviour had come from Charlie. There were days where she would get moody, and would always demand for things she wanted. This was because she missed having her parents around. Brax and Charlie had gotten Heath and Bianca to look after Angelo's during the first year they had Alyssa, but other than that, Ruby had looked after her the most. She looked up to Ruby like she was her mum rather than her sister. Last year, there were a few times where she did accidently call Ruby "mum". To avoid this from catching on Ruby would take Alyssa to visit Charlie and Brax during their lunch breaks.

Restless could quite well be Alyssa's middle name. She could hardly sit still for five minutes. Although this was normal for all little kids, she was a lot worse than others. Surprisingly, her cousin Brianna, who is Heath and Bianca's daughter, was the total opposite. None of the Braxton's could guess where that came from. Both her parents were incredibly active.

Whenever Alyssa was bored, which was more than half the time she spent with Ruby who was always studying for uni, she would always ask Bianca to bring Brianna over.  
>"Ruby..."<br>"Yes Lyss?  
>"Can Bri Bri come over?"<br>"Yes, of course. I'll call Bianca now."  
>Heath, Bianca, Darcy and Brianna practically lived with the others. They were always over at their house, and literally only went home to finish off their work, and sleep. Ruby called Bianca's house so that someone could entertain Alyssa while she had to study for exams coming up.<br>"Hello..?"  
>"Hey Darce!"<br>"Aunty Ruby!"  
>"Is Bianca home?"<br>"No sorry, she had to go and get something from work."  
>"Oh. Who's looking after your sister?"<br>"Well Bianca just went so I guess me, but she's sleeping so there's hardly any looking after to do..."  
>"Okay, fair enough. Although you're too young to be looking after her Darcy!"<br>"I know, but Bianca said she'll be back in ten minutes or so."  
>"That's good then. Why don't you come around here for now? Alyssa is so bored and I think she could do with you and Brianna playing with her."<br>"Well..."  
>"What is it?"<br>"I got quite a bit of homework from school..."  
>"Oh, that's fine. You can bring it over. I'm sure Alyssa and Brianna will get along just fine while you do your work," Ruby assured.<br>"Okay, thanks Ruby! I'll be over now, bye!"

Without wanting either her dad or Bianca to worry about where she and Brianna had gone, Darcy left a note to say they had gone next door. She went upstairs to get her sister, but she was sound asleep. Darcy slowly picked her up and placed her into her pram.

_**Next chapter:  
>Brianna and Darcy are over at Ruby's.<strong>_

_**Sorry this chapter is quite short. The rest will be longer (: **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**I'm sorry but this chapter is going to be quite short too. I promise the next ones will be longer! Thank you for reviewing, favouriting, subscribing and reading! :-) xxx**_

**Chapter 2 **

Darcy knocked on the door and Ruby opened it immediately. Alyssa came running to the door as soon as she saw her cousins.  
>"Bri Bri! Darcy!" she greeted them loudly.<br>"Awh, hello Lyss! Tone your voice down! Bri's sleeping," Darcy said.  
>"Sowwwyy!," said Alyssa and grabbed onto Darcy's legs.<br>"Awh, it's alright. Play with your toys for another 10 minutes, and Bri should be awake by then."  
>"Can you play with me?"<br>"I can't, sorry. I've got homework but as soon as I'm done, I'll play with you."  
>"Yaaaaay!" Alyssa ran off to play with her toys in her room.<p>

Today wasn't going so well for Charlie. She had mixed up pizza toppings three times already.  
>"Babe, are you alright? You can take a rest if you want?" Brax said.<br>"But we'll be short on staff. Look how busy this place is."  
>"I can get Casey to come in. Surely Romeo doesn't need him right now."<br>"What if he's in the middle of something?"  
>"Charlie, trust me. He won't be. If you're not feeling well, take a rest."<br>"No, I'm fine, really."  
>"If you say so, but the next time something gets mixed up, you're going on a break. You hear me?"<br>"Haha yes, boss," Charlie joked.

It was lunchtime and Alyssa was getting extremely restless. She had been playing with her toys by herself for the past hour. Brianna was suppose to be awake ages ago, but it seems as if she's dozed off into her own little world big time. Ruby and Darcy had been doing their work this whole time, and they hadn't even noticed the numerous times where Alyssa randomly shook Brianna pram, hoping she would wake up. Alyssa ran up to her sister as she was getting awfully lonely.  
>"Ruby... Are you done yet?"<br>"Almost, give me two minutes."  
>Alyssa sighed. She raced back to Brianna and started to jump around. Cries were coming from the pram.<br>"Ugh, Lyss! You should've left her alone!" shouted Ruby.  
>"But nobody would play with me!" sulked Alyssa.<br>"I told you I'd be done in a few minutes!"  
>Alyssa couldn't take all this yelling and shouting. She started bawling her eyes out. While Darcy went to calm Brianna down, Ruby went over to her sister.<br>"Awh, come here Lyss! I'm so sorry baby! You know I didn't mean it. You have to remember that Bri's only young. She needs her sleep. Besides, it's good when she's sound asleep. You don't realise how often Bianca and Heath wake up in the middle of the night because of the amount of times she cries. You were the same."  
>Alyssa struggled to get her words out in between her tears. "I'm so sowwy Ruby. Please don't be angry!"<br>"Awh, you're a sweetie! Of course I'm not angry! But please, remember what I've told you. Darcy's trying so hard to get Bri to stop crying. How are we going to visit Charlie and Brax like this?"  
>Alyssa ran to Brianna and gave her a giant hug. "I'm sowwy Bri Bri."<br>This didn't help at all. Instead, it made everything worse. Brianna was crying louder than ever.  
>"Darce, did you bring her bottle?" Ruby asked.<br>"No... I didn't think I would need it..." Darcy responded.  
>"Oh, I was thinking it could calm her down, but oh well..."<br>"I can go and grab it now?"  
>"Would you mind?"<br>"No, course not!"  
>"Awh, would you then?"<br>"Yeah, I'll go now."  
>"Thank you Darcy! You're a sweetie!"<p>

_**Next chapter:  
>Ruby, Darcy, Alyssa and Brianna go to Angelo's.<strong>_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Thank you for reading and reviewing chapter 2. Please, please, please let me know what you think of this chapter. I really do appreciate all the feedback I get. I hope you all like this chapter. I'm sorry if it's starting out to be boring; I promise they'll be more to it in the upcoming chapters (: xxx**_

**Chapter 3 **

Charlie kept walking from one table to another. She wanted to spend some time together alone with Brax before Ruby and Alyssa went to see them, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. They had their lunch break later than everyone else. This allowed them to get out of the restaurant for half an hour or so to spend time with their family seeing as they hardly ever do as they spend most of their time running Angelo's. Charlie hated the idea of not being able to look after her daughters, but she knew that she and Brax had to earn money. She felt bad for Ruby because she was suppose to be studying rather than babysitting.

"Charlie, I know this restaurant is causing us both a lot of stress so I've asked Liam to look after it for us next week," said Brax.  
>"Are you sure?"<br>"Yeah, he says he doesn't mind and we are going to raise his pay."  
>"Well that works out perfectly too!"<br>"It sure does! I thought we could all go up to the cabin so we could just be with our family without any interruptions. You know, me, you, Casey, Rubes, Lyss, Heath, Bianca, Darcy and Brianna."  
>"That sounds great! I could totally do with any holiday with now! But are you sure Bianca and Casey could take time off? At least Ruby's still on holiday."<br>"Well it's not like they can't get substitute teachers to fill in for Bianca. I'm not too sure about Casey though."  
>"Romeo should be able to handle it on his own. He could always ask Xavier to help him."<br>"Yeah, I guess that's true."  
>"Once we close up tonight, we can talk it over with everyone at home. Make sure you don't mention anything to the girls at lunch."<p>

After giving Brianna her bottle, she had calmed down and was now smiling in her pram.  
>"C'mon, let's get going," Ruby said.<br>"Does Uncle Brax know we're coming as well?" Darcy asked.  
>"No, but I'm sure he won't mind. He loves you Darcy!"<br>This made Darcy giggle. "I love him too!"  
>"Do you want to push your sister along?"<br>"Yes, yes, yes please! Are you sure it's okay?"  
>"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"<br>"Well... Bianca never lets me..."  
>"Oh... Did she say why?"<br>"No..."  
>"Are you sure she doesn't let you?"<br>"Well I've never asked her before..."  
>"That's probably why, Darce. I'm sure she does let you. You can push her along now. I'll be right next to you so it'll be okay," assured Ruby.<p>

"Haha hey guys!" Brax greeted the girls cheerfully.  
>"Hey!" replied Ruby, Darcy and Alyssa.<br>"You're a big girl now aren't you Darce? Pushing your sister along!"  
>"Hahaha yes! Where's Aunty Charlie?"<br>Charlie immediately appeared after going to the bathroom. "I'm right here baby girl!"  
>Darcy ran to give her a hug. "I've missed you!"<br>"Awh, I've missed you too! Although it's only been two days since I last saw you! What have you been doing?"  
>"Homework..."<br>"Aww, do the teachers give you a lot?"  
>"Yeah, I guess..."<br>"Well when you're Ruby's age, you'll get even more so start studying!"  
>Darcy sighed. "Do I really?"<br>"Yeah, but if you do your work, you can be smart! Then you'll have a good job and you'll be rich!"  
>"Oh, I want money!" Darcy giggled.<br>Charlie went to pick up her youngest daughter.  
>"How are you Lyss?"<br>"I'm good mummy."  
>"Awh, that's good to hear. Have you been good for Ruby?"<br>Alyssa didn't know what to say. She wasn't sure if she should tell her mum about what happened with Brianna.  
>"She's been an angel, Charlie," said Ruby smiling.<br>"Awh, that's wonderful! Let's get out of here and go to the diner for lunch!" exclaimed Charlie.

Lunch turned out well for them. Both Alyssa and Brianna were well behaved. Neither of the two were screaming or crying, and they both seemed to stay still. Casey also stopped by to have lunch with them as well because Romeo only had one class on.

"Darcy, you and Brianna are staying here. I'm going to text Bianca and Heath to come back here because Charlie just texted me, saying she and Brax needed to talk to us urgently," said Ruby.  
>"Oh yay!" Darcy loved staying at Ruby's house because that meant all her family was going to stick together.<p>

_**Next chapter:  
>Holiday plans.<strong>_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Charlie and Brax's house was completely full. Their whole family was in the house so that they could tell everyone about the holiday plans.  
>"You all know how hard we have to work at Angelo's yeah? Well Brax and I have decided to go on holiday for a week and you are all coming with us!" said Charlie.<br>"Our passports aren't even ready you genius," said Heath.  
>"That's why we're not going out of the country," told Brax.<br>"Where are we going then?" asked Bianca.  
>"Ya know that cabin we went to a few years back? Where it was private?" Charlie said.<br>"Oh yes! I loved that place! Even though we did get interrupted..."  
>"Haha well we don't need to go there do we?" Charlie poked her tongue out at her best friend.<br>"So all of us are going?" Bianca clarified.  
>"Yup! All of you can get time off yeah?"<br>"Yeah, Gina should be able to cover for me. She said I can take a week of each term anyways."  
>"Oh, that works out perfectly then! Heath, you can obviously take time out... What about you Case?"<br>"Ah yup, I should be able to. Romeo has started to get Xavier to help him anyways, so I'm sure it will be fine," replied Casey.  
>"That's great! We can get Darcy out of school for a week, and luckily for Ruby, she's still on holiday."<br>"Have you booked everything?" Bianca asked.  
>"Yeah, we just did about an hour ago. We wanted to make sure that nobody else had booked it out."<br>"That's great! So next week yeah?"  
>"Yup."<br>"Sweet, I'll call Gina to let her know."  
>"Yeah, I'll go and call Romeo as well," Casey said.<p>

Fortunately both Casey and Bianca came back into the room saying they were allowed to take time off. They both sounded extremely excited, but then noticed someone was missing in the room.  
>"Where's Charlie?" asked Bianca.<br>"She said she had to go to the bathroom, but she's been in there for ages..." answered Ruby.  
>"Do you want me to check on her?"<br>"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea."  
>"Bianca, wait. Come here for a second," shouted Brax as walked into the kitchen. "You haven't noticed anything weird about her lately have you?"<br>"No, why's that?" Bianca was beginning to worry.  
>"Oh, I don't know. It's just that she kept mucking up the pizza orders for the past few days."<br>"Did you ask to see if she's alright?"  
>"Is there something wrong with Aunty Charlie?" interrupted Darcy who was standing outside the kitchen door.<br>"No honey, there's nothing for you to worry about," Bianca replied.  
>Brax waited until Darcy had gone out of the room and shut the door behind him before he answered his sister in law.<br>"Yeah, I asked her and she assured me that she was fine."  
>Bianca raised her voice. "That's it? That's all you did?"<br>"Yeah, well I told her to take a rest if she needed to."  
>Bianca looked down and sighed.<br>"What is it?" questioned Brax.  
>"Of course she would say she's fine. It's because she didn't want you to worry. What if she was ill, Brax? You've got to be looking after her."<br>"I did. That's why I suggested to her that we take a break and rest at the cabin to take the stress off not only her, but all of us. How about you just go into the bathroom and see how Charlie is? For all we know, she could be absolutely fine and we're just worrying about nothing."  
>"Good point," said Bianca and walked quickly out of the room.<p>

The bathroom was on its own at the end of the house. The door was closed but Bianca could hear sobs from outside. She knocked on the door but nobody opened it for her.  
>"Charlie? Are you okay?" Bianca asked.<br>Charlie didn't reply. She started crying even louder.  
>"Charlie, can you please open up?"<br>Bianca kept waiting but from what she could tell, Charlie stayed still. Bianca picked at the lock and opened the door. There lay Charlie on the ground sobbing. Without being able to stand seeing her best friend like this, Bianca raced to her and cuddled her.  
>"Are you okay? I'm here if you need to talk."<br>Charlie tried to talk in between her tears.  
>"Can you please get me tissues and not tell the others? I don't want them to worry."<br>"Yeah, of course. I'll get them for you right now."

_**Next chapter:  
>What does Bianca do? Tell the others or keep her promise to Charlie?<strong>_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Instead of going into the lounge where a tissue box was already open, Bianca went into her room to get the small tissue packets so that she wouldn't have to walk into the others who would shoot questions at her as if there was no tomorrow. She felt like Brax should know, but wanted to keep her promise to Charlie, as well as wanting to know what was going on first. While walking back down the stairs, and towards the bathroom, she heard voices. She started to panic. Had someone found Charlie? Bianca knocked on the door as it was locked, and the door immediately open. Darcy was standing behind the door.

Bianca was completely shocked.  
>"What are you doing here Darce?" she asked.<br>"I needed to use the bathroom, but then I saw Charlie... What's wrong?"  
>"There's nothing for you to worry about. Go upstairs and use the bathroom. Make sure you don't tell anyone about this," Bianca said.<br>Darcy obeyed immediately and left the room. Bianca sat down next to Charlie and handed her the tissues.  
>"What did you tell Darcy?"<br>"Nothing. I just told her I ate something bad today and threw up."  
>"Okay, that's good. Now Charlie, are you going to tell me what's wrong? I'm your best friend, you can trust me."<p>

Meanwhile, Darcy raced into the lounge.  
>"Darce, what's the rush?" Brax asked.<br>"Charlie is in the bathroom crying."  
>"Huh? What's wrong with her?"<br>"She told me she had something bad to eat."  
>"And you don't believe her?"<br>"Well I don't know."  
>"Is Bianca with her?"<br>"Yeah, she told me not to worry."  
>"Okay, thanks for letting me know Darcy."<br>Brax was about to make his way to Charlie before Darcy interrupted him again.  
>"Where are you going, Brax?"<br>"To check on Charlie."  
>Darcy avoided eye contact with Brax. Instead, she started feeling awkward.<br>"What's wrong?" demanded Brax.  
>"Well Bianca told me not to tell anyone..."<br>That sounds so much like her, Brax thought to himself.  
>"Oh, it's fine, she always says that but ends up telling me anyways," he said.<p>

Brax made his way to the bathroom as quickly as he could.  
>"Charlie, it's me. Can you please open up? I'm worried about you."<br>"Oh no... Darcy must have told him... What do you want me to do?" Bianca whispered.  
>"I have no idea... Just don't let him come in," Charlie replied.<br>"Brax, there's nothing for you to worry about," shouted Bianca.  
>"Then how come Darcy said Charlie was crying?"<br>How much did she tell him wondered Bianca in her head...  
>"She just had something bad to eat. Look, why don't you just let us be and I'll fill you in later?"<br>"Fine, but you'll have to tell me everything."  
>Charlie waited until she heard Brax's footsteps heading towards the lounge before speaking.<br>"What are you going to tell him?"  
>"I'm not sure yet. But you, tell me what's going on."<br>"Nothing, honestly."  
>"Then why are you crying? Charlie, I don't want to pressure you into telling me, but I'm really starting to get worried. Brax told me about your mix up of orders at the restaurant. How can we go to the cabin when you're like this?"<br>"I'm just having period pains. That's it."  
>"I think we should take you to the hospital."<br>"No, don't. There's no need. It will go away soon enough."  
>"Okay, if you say so."<br>"Can I please have some time to myself now?" Charlie asked politely.  
>"Yeah, of course, anything you want. But call me when you need me."<br>"Yeah, I will," said Charlie and forced a smile.

Thankfully everyone had gone out of the house by the time Bianca returned to the lounge. He called at Bianca as soon as he saw her.  
>"Bianca, can you please tell me about Charlie?"<br>"She told me she has period pains."  
>"Can they get that bad?"<br>"Yeah, apparently so. I've read about it but who knows."  
>"I say we take her to the hospital. We can't go on holiday with her like this."<br>"No, there's no point. I'm pretty sure it will go away in the next day or two."  
>"Okay, if you say so, but if it's still there on Wednesday, we're taking her to the hospital."<br>"Yeah, okay," said Bianca and made herself comfortable in front of the TV.

_**Next chapter:  
>Charlie and Brax come face to face.<strong>_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Brax kept on pacing from one side of the lounge to the other.  
>"Can you please stay still, Brax?" asked Bianca. "It's kind of annoying hearing your footsteps while I'm trying to watch TV."<br>"I'm sorry. I'm worried about Charlie. I know there's more to it than period pains."  
>"So you're a doctor now?"<br>"No, all I'm saying is that either you or Charlie isn't telling me the truth."  
>"You're calling me a liar?" Bianca shouted.<br>"No, of course not. But I know Charlie."  
>"Yeah, so do I. I'm her best friend."<br>"Well I'm her husband."  
>"I know."<br>"Yeah, which means she should tell me what's going on. This is what Charlie's always like. She never tells anyone what's going on until the very last minute."  
>"But we have to understand and respect what she wants, and right now, all she wants is some time to herself."<br>"Well I'm going to check on her."  
>"No, Brax!" yelled Bianca. "Just let her be okay?"<br>Bianca was too late. Brax had already gone out of the room.

Brax turned the doorknob, and fortunately for him, it opened. Charlie was still lying on the ground in the exact same position as he last saw her. He locked the door behind him and sat next to her. He pulled her towards him gently and started stroking her hair.  
>"Baby, can you please tell me what's up?"<br>Charlie could hardly answer him. She was still crying and felt sick to the stomach.  
>"Nothing Brax, I'm fine."<br>"No you're not. Nobody cries this much when they're fine."  
>"I just have really bad period pains, and there's also the stress from work."<br>"Yeah, but we're going on holiday on Friday, and it's Monday now. You've only got a few more days."  
>"I think the stress of all this work has started to hit me. I need some rest more than ever."<br>"Maybe we could move the holiday up to Wednesday? So there's more of a break for you?"  
>"Yes, please. I could really do with that."<br>"Okay, I'll tell the others when they get back. Why don't you go and take a quick nap for now?"  
>"That sounds great. Thanks babe."<p>

Brax was glad that he and Charlie talked everything out. From what he could gather, there were no more secrets between them, although Charlie wasn't exactly on the same page. The minute Brax left her alone in their room; she started to feel uncomfortable again. She kept twisting and turning in bed and tears began to drip down her face. Having so many people in the house made it hard for her to shut everyone out. All she wanted to do was avoid every way of communication.

It was 10 o'clock the next morning and Heath, Bianca, Darcy and Brianna had stayed over the previous night. The Braxton's house was back to its full and noisy self with everyone awake except Charlie.  
>"There's something I have to tell you. Come around the dining table," said Brax.<br>"What about Charlie?" asked Ruby.  
>"She's still asleep. Just let her rest, anyways, she was the one who made this decision."<br>"Are you two splitting up..?" Casey asked.  
>"What? No! Of course not! What makes you think that?"<br>"Well yesterday I heard you arguing with someone... I'm sorry; I didn't mean to eavesdrop... I just overheard you two when I came home yesterday."  
>Bianca couldn't stop laughing when she heard this.<br>"What's so funny?" demanded Casey.  
>"Oh, nothing. It's just that it was your brother and I who had a little disagreement," Bianca said.<br>"Oh whoops... So what is it you want to tell us, Brax?"  
>"We've decided to move our holiday up and we're leaving tomorrow instead."<br>"Brax, I can't," Casey said.  
>"Why?"<br>"I've got a class to teach tomorrow."  
>"Well can't you reschedule it to today?"<br>Casey looked at Brax as if he was out of his mind. "No? There's like ten students bro!"  
>"Well can you get Romeo to cover for you?"<br>"He's got another class to teach at the same time."  
>"Well how about Xavier?"<br>"He's busy with that police academy thing."  
>"So he's going on with being a cop?"<br>"Sounds like it."  
>"So there's no way of you getting out of tomorrow?"<br>"No, don't think so. Look, why don't you all go tomorrow and I'll just drive up by myself after my shift?"  
>"I think Gina needs me tomorrow so I can go with Case?" Bianca interrupted.<br>"Yeah, okay. That should be fine. The rest of you better get packing then!" said Brax.

_**Next chapter:  
>Holiday<strong>_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

It was early the next morning when Brax, Charlie, Ruby, Alyssa, Heath, Darcy and Brianna woke up. Bianca and Casey remained asleep as it was only 5:30am. The others wanted an early start to avoid the morning traffic. All their bags were packed and loaded into two cars. Brax drove Charlie, Alyssa and Brianna in his car, while Heath took Darcy and Ruby in his. Later in the day, Bianca would drive Casey in her car with all their stuff as they still needed to work today.

The drive to the cabin had been extremely bumpy for both cars, although Heath arrived there a lot earlier than Brax. There had been road works along most of the roads they were driving on, and there were quite a few pebbles on the road. It had been incredibly loud in Brax's car. Brianna wouldn't stop crying as Alyssa kept pulling at her fingers. The two of them usually got alone, but not during what they would consider a "long car trip". It had taken them an hour, even though it was only suppose to be a half an hour drive. Brax was originally driving ahead of Heath, but had to take a detour on a less bumpy road to calm Brianna down.

Heath immediately ran to his brother the minute he saw their car.  
>"Bro, finally you got here! What took you so long?"<br>"Uh well, Alyssa and Brianna hadn't been getting alone so we had to stop a few times," Brax answered.  
>"Haha is my daughter too hard for you to handle?" Heath joked.<br>"Yeah, we all know where that came from!"  
>"Just because you've weakened."<br>"Yeah well, this isn't about me."  
>"Yeah, yeah..."<br>"Anyways, we have got to unload the car before we can do anything else. Ruby, you and Darcy and take Alyssa and Brianna inside while Heath, Charlie and I bring all our bags in," Brax said.  
>"Can I take Bri's bag?" Ruby asked. "I think we'll need it."<br>Brax followed Alyssa, Darcy and Ruby, who was holding Brianna, into the cabin.

As soon as Brax, Charlie and Heath finished putting the bags into the cabin, Heath reached into the fridge for a beer.  
>"You're getting on to those already?" asked Brax.<br>"Yeah," Heath said casually.  
>"Mate, it's not even the afternoon yet."<br>"So?"  
>"Ugh. Telling you these things really is useless."<br>"Brax, sorry to interrupt, but I'm going into our room for a lie down okay?"  
>"Yeah, of course. You're alright yeah?"<br>"Yup, I'm just tired because we woke up so early."  
>"Okay, fair enough. Call me if you need me."<br>"Yeah, of course," said Charlie and kissed him before she went into the other room.

Two hours had passed and Charlie had just had the best slept she'd had since the past few days. She still wasn't feeling well but felt like all she needed was some fresh air to get all the mess out of her head.  
>"Where is everyone?" Charlie asked Brax when she saw that he was the only one inside.<br>"They have all gone into the pool," he responded.  
>"How come you're not with them?"<br>"Well in case you needed me, I would be here."  
>"Awh, that's so sweet!"<br>Brax pulled Charlie into him and started to feel up her singlet. They started to kiss passionately until they were interrupted.  
>"Get a room you two, would you?" Heath shouted.<br>Brax and Charlie quickly took their hands off each other and stood still.  
>"How come you aren't wet? I thought you were in the pool?" wondered Brax.<br>"No? I was just sitting down drinking."  
>"Weren't you suppose to be looking after the kids?"<br>"Ruby can do that perfectly fine by herself."  
>"So what are you going to do? Stay here by yourself?"<br>"Yeah. Well no, not if you two are going to be here."  
>"Feeling sad because Bianca's not here?"<br>"Mate, she's driving up here now."  
>"Already?" Charlie interrupted.<br>"Wow, don't sound too surprised," Heath said sarcastically.  
>"What? No? I just thought her and Casey wouldn't come here until later this afternoon."<br>"Well Casey's class was at nine this morning so obviously it would be done by now,"  
>"Oh yeah, of course. It sounds like Gina didn't need Bianca to do much at the school then."<br>Charlie turned to Brax.  
>"Anyways, I think I need some fresh air so I'm going for a walk," she said to him.<br>"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself? You haven't been feeling the best during these past few days," Brax replied worryingly.  
>Charlie forced a smile, hoping it would allow Brax to worry less.<br>"Baby, I'll be fine, bye!"

_**Next chapter:  
>Bianca and Casey arrive at the cabin.<strong>_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 **

"Charlie, wait!" Brax yelled after her.  
>"Yeah?" Charlie replied as she turned around.<br>"When will you be back?"  
>"Uh... Probably in about twenty minutes?"<br>"Okay, cool. Lunch should be ready when you come back then."

Bianca and Casey were well on their way to the cabin, until Casey received a text message from Brax.  
>"Bianca, it looks like we'll have to go back to mine. Brax just texted me," Casey said.<br>"What did he say?" she asked.  
>"<em>Sorry if you're on your way now, but can you please get Brianna's pacifier? We left it on the kitchen bench – Brax. <em>He couldn't have texted me earlier aye?"  
>"Yeah, that's true. Although it's not like he knew where we were."<br>"But you texted Heath yeah?"  
>"Yeah, I did, but maybe he didn't tell Brax?"<br>"Yeah, maybe, oh well. Who knows huh?"  
>"Let's just take the shortcut round here. Hopefully the traffic won't be too busy.<p>

Brax and Heath were sitting on the tanning chairs while overlooking Ruby, Darcy, Alyssa and Brianna who were in the pool.  
>"Why don't you come in and join us?" Darcy asked.<br>"You know what? The pool's not really my thing," Brax replied.  
>"But you go surfing all the time!" Ruby added.<br>"Yeah, well you can't really go surfing in a pool can you?"  
>"He's just worried about his wife," Heath interrupted cheekily.<br>"What? Where is she?" asked Ruby.  
>Brax sighed and glared at Heath. The last thing he wanted was for Ruby to worry about Charlie.<br>"She went for a walk," Brax answered.  
>"Is there a problem?"<br>"No, everything is fine with your mum."  
>"Okay... If you say so..."<br>"Heath, come with me for a sec," Brax said.  
>Heath knew he had it in for him, although he could hardly pick up what he did wrong.<p>

"Well that was strange..."  
>"What was?" Darcy said.<br>Uh oh... Ruby wasn't suppose to say that out loud... Now Darcy will see the panic in her eyes...  
>"Oh, nothing."<br>So many questions were bubbling up in Ruby's head. Why would Brax say there's nothing wrong with Charlie, and then talk to Heath in private just after he mentioned Charlie?  
>"Darcy, the other day when you came back from the bathroom, why were you in such a rush to Brax again?" Ruby asked.<br>"Charlie was in there."  
>"What was she doing?"<br>"I don't know..."  
>"Okay, I think it's time we got out of the pool. Can you please help Lyss and Bri dry themselves? I'll be right back."<br>"Where are you going?"  
>Darcy was too late. Ruby had already raced back towards the cabin.<p>

Ruby was about to open the door of the cabin until she heard Brax and Heath yelling at each other. She put her ear to the door and listened closely.  
>"What was that for?" Heath demanded.<br>Right, so obviously Brax had punched him before, Ruby thought to herself.  
>"Why did you have to mention Charlie?"<br>"Well I'm just stating the facts, geez Brax!"  
>"But you didn't need to in front of the kids!"<br>"How is Ruby a kid?"  
>"Well besides her, the others are still young. We came here for a holiday, and for Charlie to take away her stress. We don't need to put more stress on everyone else."<br>"Think about it Brax. Charlie is Ruby's mum. She has the right to know what is going on."  
>"Yeah, well I hardly know what's going on so what am I suppose to tell her?"<br>"I don't know! You're the one in this family who usually figures things out for us!"  
>"But I can't lie to Ruby, which means I can't tell her anything."<br>"Well there's obviously something going on with Charlie. You've seen how she's been acting lately."  
>"I don't want the girls to worry about nothing, especially Ruby. She's got enough to worry about already," shouted Brax.<br>"What? School work?"  
>"Yeah, she has to concentrate on it. Not that you would know anything of course."<br>Ruby quickly turned the doorknob. Heath and Brax stopped arguing immediately.  
>"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" exclaimed Ruby.<br>"Nothing," answered Brax.  
>"Right, so nothing about Charlie under any stress or stuff for me to worry about," Ruby retorted.<br>Brax knew he couldn't lie to her anymore.  
>"How much of it did you hear?" asked Brax.<br>"Enough to know that there is something going on with Charlie that I should know about. She's my mum!"  
>"Yeah, okay, I know."<br>Brax was about to tell Ruby what was going on until they saw Casey racing up the stairs towards them.  
>"Case! What's wrong?" Brax shouted.<br>"Charlie. Well her phone. I got out of the car to open the big gates so we could drive in and I saw her phone lying on the ground."  
>"Pass it here."<br>Casey handed it over to his brother.  
>"23 new messages..." Brax said.<p>

_**Next chapter:  
>Brax finds out more about Charlie's phone.<strong>_  
><em><br>_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed this story, I really do appreciate all your comments. So I've had to raise the rating of this story. It wasn't intentional... My story kind of went down this path so here you go. I still hope you like it and please review it :-) xxx**_

**Chapter 9**

"23 new messages?" Casey repeated.  
>"Yeah..." Brax said slowly.<br>"Geez bro, how many times have you been texting her?"  
>"I haven't texted her at all."<br>"Where is she?"  
>"She went for a walk. Oh no, her phone must have fallen out of her pocket... There's no way for us to contact her..."<br>"Bianca!" Brax yelled as soon as he saw her coming out of the car and walking up the steps to the cabin.  
>"Yeah?"<br>"You haven't texted Charlie have you?"  
>"No? Why's that?"<br>"Well when Casey picked up her phone, she had 23 unread messages..."  
>"Who would want to contact her so desperately?" Bianca wondered.<br>"Yeah, I want to know the same..."  
>"Rubes, you haven't texted your mum have you?" asked Bianca.<br>"No... I've been in the pool since we got here so I haven't had my phone near me."  
>"Why don't you just read the messages?" Heath said bluntly.<br>"Babe, that's incredibly rude," Bianca replied.  
>"Yeah, well she's not here so it's not like she'll ever notice."<br>"I don't think it's a good idea..." Brax said slowly.  
>"What? Are you worried she's cheating on you?"<br>Brax glared at his brother.  
>"Haha relax Brax, I was only kidding," said Heath.<br>"Yeah, well this isn't a time for jokes."  
>"I'm with Heath on this one. I say we read the messages," Ruby announced.<br>"Fine, whatever. Who wants to read it?" Brax asked.  
>"I will..." answered Ruby.<br>She grabbed the phone off Brax.  
>"They're all from an unknown number."<br>"Huh? As in it's blocked?" Bianca asked.  
>"No, they're from someone who isn't in Charlie's contacts."<br>"Oh... That's odd... What do the messages say Rubes?"  
>Ruby's eyes and mouth was wide open.<br>"Rubes, what is it?" Brax demanded.  
>"OH. MY. GOSH." Ruby shouted.<br>"Pass the phone here?" said Bianca.  
>"Ruby, can you please tell me what they say!" yelled Brax.<br>"They're absolutely disgusting! Poor Charlie! No wonder she's been feeling so sick these past few days!" shouted Bianca.  
>Brax snatched the phone off Bianca seeing as nobody would tell him about the messages.<br>"Oh god. You've got to be kidding me," he yelled.  
>"I'm too sick for words," Ruby said. "I can't believe someone's been sending her these messages. Everyone knows she's married."<br>"How long do you think she's gotten them for?" Bianca asked.  
>"Who knows, but obviously long enough to upset her this badly."<br>Heath took the phone of his brother and began to read the latest message without even thinking.  
>"I know where you are. I've got bottles for us tonight so let's get wasted. Forget about condoms, my sperm is ready for you."<br>"Heath, stop! I don't want to hear you read the messages out loud. It's gross!" Ruby yelled.  
>"There are messages that were a lot worse babe," Bianca said.<br>Brax couldn't take it anymore. He hurried to the bathroom, followed by Bianca, Heath and Ruby. He wasn't thinking straight, and immediately flushed Charlie's SIM card down the toilet.  
>"Brax! Why did you just do that!" Bianca shouted.<br>"There's no way I want my wife having to cope with these any longer," Brax shouted back.  
>"How are we going to show this all to the cops if the SIM card is gone?"<br>"The ones she has now will still be on her phone so we can give that to them," Ruby said.  
>"I don't ever want to see that phone ever again," Brax yelled. "All I want to do is throw up."<br>"Me too. There is no way I'm eating today. I've completely lost my appetite," said Bianca.  
>"So what are we going to do with this?" asked Heath.<br>Bianca answered her husband immediately. "Take it to the cops."  
>"But what are they going to do with it? For all we know, it could be some kind of a practical joke."<br>"What are the chances it is? If it was a joke, they'd be coming for a teenager, and no teenager would send this many messages. Look at this; Charlie got 23 messages in the space of half an hour. That's almost a message a minute."  
>"Good point. What happens if we take it to the coppers then?"<br>"Well it's inappropriate, and wouldn't they consider this 'cyber-bullying'?"  
>"Yeah, it should be because look at the state of Charlie," said Ruby.<br>"Don't you think Charlie should have a say about this?" Brax asked.  
>"She's not exactly here is she?" Heath said.<br>"Wasn't she suppose to be back here ages ago? It's been well over twenty minutes."  
>"Brax, she's probably going for a longer walk than planned."<br>Something had just hit Casey and he buried his head into his hands.  
>"Case, what is it?" demanded Brax.<br>"I really don't want to say this right now, but the message Charlie got, didn't it say the person knew where Charlie was?"  
>"Oh god no... You don't think they've crossed pathways do you..?" asked Ruby.<br>"Well it's a possibility isn't it?"  
>"Maybe they could've meant they know where we live..?" Heath said.<br>"Do you think we should check?" Casey asked.  
>"That's a good idea," replied Bianca.<br>"Yeah, I agree," Ruby and Heath said together.  
>"Brax?" Casey asked him. "Are you in?"<br>"No. I can't do this Casey, it's sickening."  
>"But don't you think it's better that we check Charlie is alright?"<br>"Well I hope she is, but there's no way I want to come across this person."  
>"You have to mate," Heath added.<br>"No, you guys go. I'll stay here and look after Darcy, Lyss and Brianna."  
>This wasn't a good idea at all. Casey knew what his brother was capable of when his head was messing with him.<br>"Bro, no. I'm not letting you stay here with them," he said.  
>"Why not?"<br>"Are you serious man? The things you would do..."  
>Brax smashed his fists against the table.<br>"CASEY, I DON'T WANT TO COME ACROSS THIS BLOKE."  
>"Brax, she's your wife. You're suppose to keep her safe."<br>"I'll stay here and look after them. Brax, you go with the others and look for her," Heath said.  
>"Yeah, I agree. No arguing Brax," added Ruby.<p>

_**Next chapter:  
>Will Brax listen to them and go? <strong>_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Thank you for all the reviews! I really do appreciate each and every one of them. I'm sorry this chapter is way shorter, but I hope you do like it. Please review :-) xxx**_

**Chapter 10**

"I told you, I'm not going!" Brax shouted for the hundredth time.  
>"Mate, you have to," Heath insisted.<br>"Why are we even arguing about this? Brax, you're coming with us. If we don't go any faster, Charlie could be in serious trouble," yelled Ruby.  
>"Exactly what she said."<br>"Fine, I'll go but if we do see the man, back away because the scene isn't going to be pretty," said Brax.  
>"Took you long enough to agree," Casey said.<br>"Come on guys, we've got to hurry," announced Bianca.  
>"Wait. What do I tell the young ones if they ask where you've gone?" Heath wondered.<br>"Just say we've gone shopping," answered Casey.  
>"What? In a place as deserted as this?"<br>"Yeah, that way we can cover up about why we have been gone for so long."  
>"Oh right, yeah, of course."<br>"See, this is why he's got the brains of the family," said Brax.  
>"No time for jokes bro, let's get going," Casey told his brother.<p>

Bianca, Brax, Casey and Ruby ran down the steps and towards Bianca's car. They were all about to get in until Bianca spoke up.  
>"I don't think we should all go in the same car," she said.<br>"Yeah, that's a good idea," agreed Casey.  
>"So what? We all take different cars?" Ruby asked.<br>"Haha no. I don't think it's a good idea for my brother to drive," said Casey.  
>"Yeah, I have to agree with you on that one," Bianca said. "How about I take Brax in my car, and then you two can go in his car?"<br>"Yup, that sounds like a good idea," Ruby replied.  
>"Brax, can you please pass me your keys?" Casey asked.<br>Before throwing his keys to his brother, Brax warned him. "You better not drive my car into anything."  
>"Don't worry Brax, I'll make sure he doesn't damage your car," Ruby said jokingly.<p>

The drive in Bianca's car was completely silent. All Brax did was stare down at the phone on the ground, while Bianca kept her eyes on the road.  
>"Brax, can you please help me?" Bianca asked.<br>Brax stared at her blankly. "Help you with what?"  
>"Err, I don't know. How about looking for Charlie?"<br>"She's not even going to be here."  
>"Wow, aren't you supportive? You're suppose to be helping us find her!"<br>"Well I didn't exactly want to come."  
>"She's your wife Brax!" Bianca yelled.<br>"Look, I know. But think about it Bianca, do you really think someone would kidnap Charlie and do who knows what to her in broad daylight?"  
>"You think that didn't cross my mind? Of course it did okay! I'm sure Ruby and Casey thought about it too, but Charlie hasn't come back. Aren't you worried at all?"<br>"I am! But Charlie's though!"  
>Bianca pulled over to make sure that Brax had a clear message in his head.<br>"Why are you stopping?" Brax demanded.  
>"Can't you put your bottle down? Charlie, your wife, could be in danger!" Bianca shouted.<br>"I know, I know! Of course I'm worried okay? I love her!"  
>Before Bianca could reply, her phone started ringing.<br>"Who is it?" Brax asked.  
>"It's Ruby," answered Bianca.<br>"Well answer it!" Brax shouted.  
>"Hold on, just quieten down please."<br>Bianca put her phone on loudspeaker so that both she and Brax could hear Ruby.  
>"Hey Rubes," greeted Bianca.<br>Nobody answered her.  
>"Rubes?" Bianca shouted.<br>There was still no reply.  
>Bianca yelled even louder. "Ruby!"<br>"Bianca, stop talking for a sec," Brax said quietly.  
>"What is it?" Bianca whispered.<p>

_**Next chapter:  
>What does Brax want?<strong>_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 **

"Shush! Don't ask questions until I start speaking!" Brax yelled.  
>As it got quieter in the car, Bianca and Brax could both hear a noise. They recognised a quiet whisper which could be heard.<br>"That's Charlie!" shouted Bianca and Brax in unison.  
>"What do we do!" Brax asked loudly.<br>Before Bianca could answer him, his phone rang.  
>"Who is it?" asked Bianca.<br>"Casey," replied Brax.  
>"Hurry up and answer it!"<br>"Case?" Brax greeted.  
>"Brax, did Bianca answer her phone when Ruby called?" Casey questioned his oldest brother.<br>"Yeah... What was up with that?"  
>"I'll explain later but I need you to come to us right now. We can see Charlie but she's with someone and Ruby and I are way too scared to go any closer."<br>"Where are you?"  
>"I'll text you the address after we end this call."<br>"Okay, cheers mate. Can you see her with anyone?"  
>"No, well I'm not too sure. I think we're too far away."<br>"Mate, it's broad daylight."  
>"I know Brax, I'm not dumb, but we're hiding behind a bush."<br>There was a long pause on the phone.  
>"Holy crap. Ruby, watch out!" Casey whispered loudly as he turned away from the phone.<br>"Casey."  
>He didn't answer Brax.<br>"Casey!"  
>There was still no answer.<br>Brax yelled his brother's name as loudly as he could. "Casey!"  
>Not only did Casey not reply to him, but the phone also went dead.<br>"Damn it," Brax shouted.  
>"Brax, what's wrong? What did Casey want?" asked Bianca.<br>"I don't know. He said that he'll explain about the phone call later, but apparently they can see Charlie."  
>"Is she alright?" Bianca asked in a panicky tone.<br>"I don't know. I don't even know if Casey and Ruby are alright?"  
>Bianca was completely puzzled. "Huh? What on earth do you mean? Wait, is that why you yelled your brother's name extremely loudly?" she asked.<br>"Yeah, that is exactly why. He was telling me that he and Ruby could see Charlie, but couldn't see if there was someone else with her."  
>"Say what? That makes no sense."<br>"Apparently they were standing behind a bush?"  
>"And then what?"<br>"I have absolutely no idea. That's when the phone went dead."  
>"Oh no, that's not a good thing at all. If there was someone..." Bianca's voice drifted off.<br>"Holy crap. No, no way. I highly doubt he or she would have heard them."  
>"Have they called the cops yet?"<br>"No! That has completely slipped my mind! Good thing you-"  
>Brax was cut off by his phone beeping.<br>"Who is it?" asked Bianca immediately.  
>Brax looked down and saw his youngest brother's name on his screen.<br>"It's Casey," Brax told her.  
>"Well hurry up and open the message!"<br>Brax did so and all Casey texted him was the location of where he and Ruby were.  
>"Is that it?" Bianca questioned.<br>"Yeah, well it seems like it."  
>"Text him back and tell ask him if he's called the cops."<br>As soon as Brax put the phone down after replying to his brother, he drove off and headed to the location he was given by Casey as quickly as he could.  
>"Brax, you've got to slow it down mate. You don't want the cops to catch you or else we will be even slower to get to where Case and Rubes are, as well as having to give them an explanation about why we're going so fast," Bianca warned him.<br>Brax glared at her and was hesitant about slowing down, but he knew that she was right.

Once Brax reached his first set of traffic lights, his phone beeped again. Before he could take his hands off the steering wheel to pick up his phone, Bianca grabbed at it first.  
>"Is it from Casey?" Brax asked.<br>"Yeah, it is."  
>"What did he say?"<br>"He said he can't and is telling you to. Apparently he's worried that someone will hear him and Ruby."  
>"Maybe that's why he hung up on me so unexpectedly?"<br>"No, really?" Bianca said sarcastically.  
>"This isn't the time for sarcasm. Call the cops now so hopefully they'll get there just before we do."<p>

Brax and Bianca arrived at the location but couldn't stop either Casey or Ruby. Fortunately for them, the cops had just pulled up as well. Brax dialled his brother's number who picked up immediately.  
>"Where are you?" Casey asked.<br>"We're here," replied Brax.  
>"Okay good. Go behind the grey wall which is full of graffiti. It's a narrow footpath so go in single file. Once you go down it, you should see us. Come to us and you'll see Charlie."<p>

_**Next chapter:  
>They find Charlie. What has happened to her?<strong>_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading and reviewing this story. You are the ones who make me want to keep on writing and I'm really glad you're all enjoying this. I hope you like this chapter too. Please review and feel free to share this story around :-) xxx**_

**Chapter 12**

Bianca and Brax followed Casey's instructions and went behind the wall. The cops closely followed, with their guns in each of their hands.  
>"Don't point the guns so far out!" Brax told them.<br>"Why not?" Watson asked.  
>"Well you could easily hurt someone by accident."<br>"We're all trained polices. Besides, how are we going to catch the person if we have nothing to threaten them with?"  
>"How do you know there is someone?"<br>"How do you know there isn't someone?" retorted Watson.  
>Brax didn't reply to her. He knew she was right. Who knew if there was someone out there or not?<p>

Casey and Ruby heard footsteps coming towards them. They immediately spun their heads around. Thankfully, it was just Brax and Bianca who appeared.  
>"Geez bro," Casey said. "You almost gave us a heart attack!"<br>"Don't be so scared! You knew we were coming!" Brax replied.  
>"Yeah, yeah, that's true. Did you not call the cops?"<br>"I did..."  
>"Where are they now?" asked Ruby.<br>"They went around the other way," Bianca told her.  
>"Can you show us where Charlie is?" Brax asked.<br>"Yeah, look straight ahead," said Casey.  
>Brax and Bianca did as they were told but couldn't see anything.<br>"Wait, where is she!" Ruby shouted.  
>"Yeah, she was here before!" Casey added.<br>Ruby started to tear up. She wanted to know that her mum was alright so badly.  
><em>Ring, ring!<br>_"It's mine," Brax said.  
>"Who is it?" his brother asked.<br>"I have no idea. It's a private number."  
>"Well answer it would you?"<br>"No, no, no, don't!" Ruby exclaimed.  
>"Why not?" Brax and Casey asked in unison.<br>"What if it's the person who was texting Charlie?"  
>"Rubes, what are the chances? Besides, how would he get my number?"<br>"Well there's also the question, how did he get Charlie's number?"  
>Ignoring what Ruby had to say, Brax answered his phone.<br>"Hello?" he said slowly.  
>"Brax, we've found Charlie," Sergeant Watson said.<br>"That's great. Where is she? Is she alright?"  
>"We aren't too sure about what has happened to her."<br>"Huh? What do you mean? Ruby and Casey told us that they could see her a ten or so minutes ago and she seemed to be fine at the time."  
>"Yeah, but they saw her from quite a long distance didn't they? You can't be too sure until you end up seeing her close up."<br>"Can you please tell us where she is?"  
>"I don't want you to come to where we are because we've had to mark it off from the public."<br>"Mark it off?" repeated Brax. "Is it this serious?"  
>"Yeah, I'm afraid so," replied Watson.<br>"So when will we be able to see her?"  
>"I've called the ambulance who should be here soon. Why don't you all go to the hospital? Charlie should arrive there shortly after you do."<br>"Okay, thanks Sergeant."

The drive to the hospital was the longest drive any of the four had to face. Ruby had her face buried in her hands, and tears kept dripping down her cheeks. Brax, on the other hand, held his phone in both of his hands and stared at it the whole time. As soon as they reached the parking lot of the hospital, they raced to reception, asking for Charlie.  
>"She's due to arrive in a few minutes. Just sit on the chairs over there if you would like," the receptionists said.<br>"Oh no, it's fine, thanks. We can just wait-," Bianca replied calmly.  
>Before Bianca could finish her sentence, Ruby had shouted her mum's name. The other three turned around and saw the doctors bringing Charlie in. Brax and Ruby ran to the doctors as Bianca and Casey remained at the front desk waiting.<br>"Is she alright?" Both Brax and Ruby asked.  
>"We hope so," replied Dr Walker.<br>"So you're not sure?" said Ruby.  
>"No. We can't be sure of anything until we run some tests on her. I'm sorry but you will have to just wait here. We will come and call you once the tests are done."<br>That's all Brax and Ruby was told. Before they knew it, Charlie had already been brought into another room. Casey and Bianca were the only ones who could sit still. Brax kept pacing from one side of the room to another, and Ruby hadn't moved from where she was standing.

_**Next chapter:  
>Charlie's test results.<strong>_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Thank you to everyone for reading, reviewing and all those who tweet me comments about this story. I appreciate them so much. I know I said I'd tell you Charlie's results in this chapter, but I'm sorry that I've had to drag it out a bit. I do hope you like this chapter though. Please review! :-) xxx**_

**Chapter 13**

An hour later, a doctor came out and notified Brax, Ruby, Casey and Bianca that all the tests had been done on Charlie.  
>"How is she?" Brax asked.<br>"I'm sorry but we can't tell you anything until we get the results back," the doctor replied.  
>That wasn't the answer Brax wanted to hear. "There was a whole bunch of you doctors in there before. You should at least know something without needing the test results."<br>"We may have an idea or two but I'm afraid we can't tell you anything until the results get back."  
>"Why not? I'm Charlie's husband. Well as a matter of fact, all four of us are her family."<br>"Look, I know, but what if we tell you something that's not true? We can't get your hopes up and we don't want you to get worried either."  
>"Well I'm already worried now; we all are, so it's not like that will change or anything."<br>"Mr Braxton, I'm well aware of that, but it's against the rules to tell you anything about a patient before we receive any test results."  
>Brax knew he couldn't do much more. "Alright, fine, fair enough, but as soon as you get the test results, you better tell me, or any of the other three about how Charlie is coping."<br>"Of course I will. I highly doubt they will come back soon so feel free to take a rest back home."  
>"Oh, no thank you doctor, we think it's best if we stay here."<br>"Okay, that's fine."  
>"Are we allowed to see her?" Ruby asked.<br>"You can after the other doctor comes out, but you can only go in one at a time."  
>"The other doctor?" repeated Ruby.<br>"Yeah, he needs to check on the machines we have put Charlie on."  
>"Oh... Thanks for letting us know."<p>

Just in case Heath or any of the kids were worried, Casey went to call his brother, because he knew that Brax wasn't up to it. Fortunately for him, Heath picked up the phone after the first ring.  
>"Hey bro," greeted Heath.<br>"Hey," replied Casey.  
>"How is Charlie going? Did you find her?"<br>"Yeah, Ruby and I did."  
>"How is she?"<br>"We aren't too sure yet."  
>"What do you mean?"<br>"She's at the hospital."  
>"How come?"<br>"I have no idea."  
>"Haven't the docs told you anything?"<br>"Nah. They said they did a few tests on her, but they can't tell us anything until they get the results back."  
>"Wow, excuses, excuses, excuses..."<br>"Apparently she's on machines though..."  
>"Oh dear... That's not good at all. Have you gone into her room to see how she's doing?"<br>"No, there can only be one person in the room with her at a time so Brax is in there at the moment."  
>"Is he holding up okay?"<br>"Yeah, well at least I think so. I think he's struggling inside though. He's just trying to act tough and brave on the outside."  
>"Oh yup, sounds so much like our brother aye? How about Ruby? Is she alright?"<br>"I don't know... She just came out from seeing Charlie and her eyes are all red. I'm pretty sure she's been crying..."  
>"Awh, the poor girl..."<br>"Yeah unfortunately. She's cuddling up to Bianca right now and I think your wife is trying to help her stay positive."  
>"Haha awh, Bianca's an angel!"<br>"Um yeah... She's good for Ruby though. Ya know, because Charlie and Bianca are so close, so is Ruby and April."  
>"Yeah, that's quite true. Do you want me to bring the girls in?"<br>"Yeah, if that's alright with you. Bianca said it's best if they see Charlie."  
>"Okay, but what am I suppose to tell them?"<br>"Just tell them what's happened. Alyssa and Bri probably won't get it, but hopefully Darce will understand."  
>"Okay, sweet. I'll be there soon."<br>"Thanks. Oh, and Heath?"  
>"Yeah mate?"<br>"I think we have to end this holiday early... Can you bring back the kids and Charlie's stuff with you?"  
>"Yeah, of course. I'll take their stuff home, but bring a few of Charlie's stuff to the hospital."<br>"Cheers bro."

Twenty minutes later, Brax, Casey, Ruby and Bianca heard footsteps. They thought it would be Heath and the girls, but instead it was a doctor. Ruby ran to him as quickly as she could, and almost knocked him over.  
>"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" she squealed.<br>"There's no need to worry, it's alright."  
>"Awh, that's good then. Have you got the results back yet?"<br>"Yes, we have..."

_**Next chapter:  
>The doctor delivers the news to Brax, Ruby, Casey and Bianca about Charlie.<strong>_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"And? Is she alright?" Ruby asked.  
>"Ruby... I think it's best if your whole family hears this together..." the doctor said.<br>"CAN YOU PLEASE JUST TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED?" Ruby demanded.  
>Brax, Bianca and Casey heard Ruby and raced towards them. Heath, Darcy, Alyssa and Brianna had just arrived to the hospital and headed towards Ruby.<br>"What's going on?" Brax asked.  
>"We've got the results back regarding Charlie."<br>"How is she?"  
>"Drugs were found inside her body and she had been attacked."<br>Nobody was expecting to hear this at all. All mouths were wide open in shock, and tears started to drip down Ruby's cheeks again.  
>"Who on earth would do this to her?" she asked.<br>"We don't know."  
>"But is she okay?" Bianca asked.<br>"She's asleep right now. She's physically okay, although she had quite a few bruises here and there."  
>"What about mentally?"<br>"I'm not too sure. We won't be able to tell until she wakes up."  
>"At least she's not that bad right?" Ruby whispered to Casey.<br>"Yeah, it could've been a lot worse," Casey replied.  
>"So what happens next?" Bianca asked the doctor.<br>"Well we can't really do much until she wakes up."  
>"Is she still on the machines?"<br>"No, the doctor who was in her room before turned them off. Charlie is capable of breathing and getting enough oxygen by herself now."  
>"Can we please go in and see her?"<br>"Yeah, of course. You can all go in together now that we've been given the all clear. If she wakes up, can you please let us know so that we can give her the medication? We've cleared the drugs out of her body."  
>"Yeah, we definitely will let you know. Thanks doc."<p>

Brax, Ruby, Bianca, Casey, Heath, Darcy, Alyssa and Brianna all walked into Charlie's room. Charlie looked a lot worse than they thought. Bruises were covering a lot of her body, and there were many scratches along her arms and face.  
>"Oh my gosh..." Ruby said as she walked up to Charlie. "I can't believe someone would do this to her."<br>"At least she's alright. We'll all just have to take good care of her," Brax said.  
>"What's wrong with mummy?" Alyssa asked her dad.<br>Brax was hoping the younger ones wouldn't ask this, but unfortunately Alyssa did. Casey heard his brother sigh loudly.  
>"Brax, do you want me to take her outside and explain what's going on? Casey offered.<br>"Yeah, please Case, that would really help. Take Bri and Darcy too why don't you?"  
>"Take me where?" Darcy asked.<br>"Outside," answered Casey.  
>"How come? I want to stay with Aunty Charlie."<br>"Well we wanted to explain what's happened to her so that you know."  
>"I already know what's happened. I heard the doctor."<br>"So you understand?" said Brax.  
>"Yeah..." Darcy replied as if the answer was obvious.<br>"Oh, okay. Just checking... Case, just take Alyssa and Bri then."  
>"Yeah, sure," Casey said.<br>"Thanks mate."  
>Casey led Alyssa and Brianna out of Charlie's room and down the corridor.<p>

"Why does mummy have red and purple-ish black spots everywhere?" Alyssa asked.  
>"She's been hurt."<br>"Who did it?"  
>"Nobody knows."<br>"Oh... Why?"  
>"Because nobody apart from Charlie saw it happen. The police are looking into it now."<br>"Is she alive?"  
>"Yes, of course she is."<br>"How come her eyes are closed?"  
>"She's asleep silly!"<br>"Ooooh!"  
>"When she does wake up, you have to be nice to her okay Lyss?"<br>"Yup..."  
>"You too Bri."<br>"Okay," Brianna replied quietly.  
>"Can I hug mummy when we go back inside?"<br>"Haha yes, of course you can Lyss! Just wait until she wakes up and don't lean on her too much. If you do, you'll probably hurt her."

Once Casey returned back to Charlie's room with Alyssa and Brianna, Charlie had woken up. Alyssa was so glad to see that her mum was alright, and ran to give her a hug.  
>"Haha easy on the arm gorgeous!" Bianca told Lyss, "You don't want Charlie to get hurt again."<br>"Awh, I'll be alright," Charlie said tiredly.  
>"Are you okay?" Brax asked as he went to give Charlie a kiss.<br>"Yeah, I guess. It hurts everywhere but I'm coping."  
>"We'll look after you babe."<br>"Do you think we should go and tell the doctor?" Ruby spoke up.  
>"Yeah, good idea," Brax said.<br>"I'll go and get him."

A few minutes later, Ruby returned to Charlie's room. Not only did the doctor follow her in, but Sergeant Watson did as well. Watson stood by the door, while the doctor gave Charlie her medication.  
>"Starting from now, I would like you to take this every four hours. They should replace your energy and fibre from the foods that we had to take out of your body to help us get the drugs out."<br>"What drugs?" Charlie questioned.  
>"The drugs that were inside your body when you came here."<br>"But I don't do drugs..."  
>The doctor turned to Watson and said, "I think it's best if you take it from here."<br>"Thanks doctor," replied Watson.

_**Next chapter:  
>Charlie's side of the story.<strong>_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Thank you to all of you who have been reading and reviewing this. Yes, I have realised that some parts of this story haven't made much sense, but that was kind of my intention. I wanted to leave out some of the details so that it would be more suspenseful. I'm sorry if this chapter isn't so good. It was hard to write because I'm still young and I've only ever seen stuff like this on TV. Hopefully, this chapter will make more sense and you'll kind of get what's happening. :-) xxx**_

**Chapter 15 **

Sergeant Watson took the seat nearest to Charlie's bed.  
>"Are you sure you're up to answering questions?" Watson asked.<br>"Yeah, I might as well get them over and done with," replied Charlie.  
>"Okay. Let me know as much detail as you can."<br>"Yup, of course."  
>"Okay, let's start from the beginning. Can you please tell me everything you did today leading up to the attack?"<br>"Well we all drove up to the cabin to get away from all the stress that Angelo's was causing us. I got a text from an unknown number who said they knew where I was."  
>"Was this from the same number who had been sending you those other inappropriate messages?"<br>"Yes... Hang on, how did you know about those..?"  
>"Your phone dropped out of your pocket as you went for a walk. Casey picked it up as he and Bianca arrived at the cabin. They saw you had many dirty messages from the same number."<br>Charlie was shocked to realise that her whole family knew about them.  
>"Charlie, we're here for you," Ruby said.<br>Charlie started crying. She was so scared but didn't want her family worrying over her.  
>"Charlie, do you want to finish this interview later on?"<br>Charlie wiped her tears off her face. "No, no, I'll be alright."  
>"Okay. Just let me know when you want to stop. When did you start getting these messages?"<br>"Um... About three weeks ago."  
>"Where were you when you got the first one?"<br>"It was after Brax and I had a fight on the beach. It wasn't a big one, but you could tell we were having a disagreement."  
>"Awh baby, I'm so sorry," Brax said.<br>Charlie kept sobbing, but tried to speak between her tears. "No, it's alright, this is not your fault."  
>"But what if the person saw us fighting and thought they could hit on you?"<br>"No, it's nothing like that."  
>"Do you remember what the message said?" Watson asked.<br>"It was something along the lines of saying he wanted to have sex with me because I broke up with my husband."  
>"So obviously he read the fight wrong then?"<br>"Yeah... Can I please have a little break before I tell you everything leading up to this? It's just a bit hard to say everything out loud."  
>"Yeah, of course. Is there anything I can get you?"<br>"Yeah, a drink of water please."  
>Once Watson left the room, Brax made his way to his wife and hugged her tightly.<br>"We will all help you get through this babe, just tell us every detail," he said.

A few minutes later, Watson came back into the room with a glass of water for Charlie. Her family was huddled around her and there was a pile of tissues on the table beside her.  
>"Do you want to continue it now?" Watson asked Charlie.<br>"Yup..." Charlie said slowly.  
>"Okay, start from wherever you want and try to not miss out on any details."<p>

"On the day of the first text, I thought it was just some joke from teenagers who were sending messages to any random numbers. The messages at first weren't that inappropriate; they just sounded like ones that teenagers would find funny. I just forgot about them and carried on with everything. It wasn't until two weeks ago where the messages started to hurt me and make me feel insecure. That's when I couldn't concentrate on things. I could never sleep properly at night but nobody could tell because they were all fast asleep. This is when I tried to sleep in the day. Whenever I slept at night, all the messages reminded me of when I got raped by Grant. I would have nightmares at night about it. The messages started to hurt me even more last week. I tried to forget about them and delete them as soon as I got them, but they just kept coming. On the day I started to muck up the orders at Angelo's, I got sent a naked photo of a girl, but my face had been photoshopped over the girl's face. The messages kept getting dirtier and dirtier. When Bianca found me sick in the bathroom, I got sent a photo of the man's private part with an even dirtier message. He kept saying he knew where I was so that's when I decided it was best if we went on holiday earlier. This is also why I left my phone lying around the house and not using it as often in case I did get another message. I also avoided all private calls in case he did end up calling me. I was so scared. I couldn't tell anyone, because all of this brought me back to the night I got raped. At first I thought it was Grant."  
>"Why did you go for a walk round the cabin then?" Brax asked.<br>"Because I wanted to get away from all this. I thought some fresh air would let me forget about all this because I felt sick to the stomach."  
>"So how did you get attacked?"<br>"This is the bit I can hardly remember. All I remember is that as I was walking, somebody pushed me against the wall and started to fell down my clothes. I had no control over this. I asked if he was the one sending these messages, and he said he was."  
>"Did you recognise this person?"<br>"No. I was going to ask how he got my number and how he knew it was me, but before I knew it, he was trying to put his tongue in my mouth and I think he snuck drugs into me that way."  
>"But when Casey and Ruby saw you, they said you were lying down and you looked fine?"<br>"It was the drugs. Besides they were looking from a distance right? Anyways, I think he heard voices from Casey and Ruby so that's when he ran off. I think if they spoke up later, he would've raped me."  
>Everyone in the room was shocked. They all felt so sorry for Charlie and wished they would've told them before things got so out of hand.<br>"I was way too scared to tell anyone. I felt so weak after getting the messages because it felt like someone was interrogating my privacy."  
>Charlie couldn't say anything else after this. She started bawling her eyes out.<br>"Charlie, I'm so sorry," Ruby said.  
>"This is also why I wasn't so intimate with Brax because if we did get close, the messages would come back into my mind and it made me so uncomfortable. This probably makes me sound like a sook, but all it all made me lose confidence in myself."<br>"I'm so sorry about this Charlie. You should've told us earlier," Watson said.  
>"I couldn't. It made me feel so weak inside because all of this brought back memories of Grant."<br>Watson gave her friend a hug. "I think this is enough. You've given us heaps of information. Don't worry; we'll try to catch this person before he does anything else to other people. I'm here for you if you need me Charlie."

_**Next chapter:  
>A deeper investigation with new clues.<strong>_


	16. Chapter 16

_**Thank you to everyone who has given me feedback. You are the ones who always keep me writing. I'm sorry this chapter is quite short; I'm quite busy with school work. Hopefully you will like it though, and please let me know your thoughts on this chapter (: xxx**_

**Chapter 16 **

It had been a long day so Brax, Ruby, Casey, Heath, Bianca, Darcy, Alyssa and Brianna left Charlie by herself at night. As much as Brax wanted to stay overnight in the hospital with her, the others convinced him to go home with them as you could easily tell he was exhausted.  
>"We'll come back first thing tomorrow morning," Casey told his brother as they got into the car.<br>"Uhhh... Good," Brax said tiredly.  
>While Casey drove Brax, Darcy, Alyssa and Bri home, Ruby, Heath and Bianca headed off into the opposite direction to collect everyone else's belongings from the cabin to take home.<p>

It was getting darker that night. Even though the cops got quite a bit of information from Charlie, none of it had led to any suspects. They had interrogated her enough, and felt like that's all they could do for now. Interviewing Casey and Ruby was also something they wanted to do that night, but only found out that one was heading home while the other went back to the cabin. They had hoped to go back and check the location where Charlie had gotten hurt one more time, although the weather wasn't going their way. All the cops at the station decided to call it a night, and were hoping to find new clues tomorrow.

Once Ruby, Heath and Bianca arrived at the cabin, it was already 8pm. Heath thought it would be better to stay there overnight as it would be too full on and too much of a rush to go back home. He called Casey to let him know.  
>"Bro, we're staying here tonight," he said.<br>"Huh? What? Do you really think that's a good idea?" Casey asked.  
>"Yeah..."<br>"Won't you be tempted to go back to where Charlie got hurt?"  
>"I don't even know where that is."<br>"What about Ruby?"  
>"We're all sleeping in the same room tonight in case anything does happen. Don't worry, we'll look after her."<br>Casey wasn't so sure about this but agreed anyway. He didn't usually trust his brother, but he had gotten a lot more responsible during these past few years.

As much to their surprise, everyone in the Braxton household seemed to be sound asleep, although it was far from the same at the cabin. Heath was wide awake; staring at the ceiling of the room. Bianca was constantly twisting and turning. Thankfully, all three of them were in separate beds so that they could all make themselves comfortable by themselves. As predicted, Ruby was by far coping the worst out of the three. She was clutching her phone tightly in her hands, and kept muttering Charlie's name. Inside her head, she kept picturing flash backs of what she and Casey saw earlier in the day. Even though she didn't see anything to do with Charlie, she saw the location and spent the entire day with her. This allowed her to put two and two together and was having nightmares about the most outrageous things. In no way would these scenes have happened to Charlie.

Fortunately the weather had cleared up the next morning. The cops arrived at the station early, and all went off in various cars to the location. Watson and Avery had decided to walk for the last ten minutes, in case anything was dropped while the attacker was trying to escape. Both of them went in different routes to make sure nothing was missed.  
>*<em>Crack*<br>_Watson looked down at the ground to see what had broke. She couldn't see anything. She lifted her right foot up and realised that she had stood on something. She picked it up to examine it in further detail...

_**Next chapter:  
>What did Watson find?<strong>_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 **

Watson held a thin piece of plastic in her hand. It was a dark colour. There could only be one possibility of what this could be. The back cover of a phone. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a re-sealable plastic bag. She carefully placed the item into the bag; trying not to put any more of her own fingerprints on it. Hopefully this would give the police some kind of lead. She headed back to her car and saw Constable Avery staring blankly out of the window.  
>"Avery?" Watson said.<br>"Yes, Sergeant?" replied Avery.  
>"Did you find anything?"<br>"No... Did you?" Avery asked, while still staring out the window.  
>"Yes. You would've noticed that the second I came in if you weren't drifting off into your own little world.<br>"Argh, be quiet please."  
>"What is it?"<br>"Nothing. Well something, but I can't make it out yet."  
>"Why don't you go outside and look?"<br>"I will, but let me know what you found first."  
>Finally Avery gave Watson his full attention as she pulled up the plastic bag.<br>"This," is all Watson said.  
>"No doubt should this help us. You don't think it belongs to the attacker do you?"<br>"I'm guessing it is, but we can't be too sure until we send it to forensics."  
>"Give it to the other Constable to take back to the station. You and I are going to check something out," Avery told her.<p>

Charlie hadn't slept at all the previous night. If she did, flashbacks of the attack would appear in her head, but all of it was blurry. She couldn't recognise a single thing. All she wanted was Brax to be in the same room as her. She missed sleeping in her own bed, while cuddling up to him.  
>"Charlie?" she heard a familiar voice.<br>"Open the door," she said.  
>Brax walked into the room with Ruby and Casey. What a coincidence Charlie thought. First she was thinking about Brax, now he's standing right next to her bed.<br>"How are you?" Ruby asked her mum.  
>"I'm alright thank you."<br>"You look awfully tired though?"  
>"Yeah... I didn't get much sleep last night," replied Charlie.<br>"Awh no... Aren't you sleeping well?"  
>"Eh... Not really... I'm still trying to get my head around all this..."<br>"Don't worry," Ruby told her mum. "If you need us, we're always here for you."  
>"Thank you sweetie," Charlie said and smiled. Ruby went up to her and gave her a long hug. Charlie then turned to Brax and asked if he could stay with her overnight at the hospital. Brax was delighted to hear Charlie asked him and said yes immediately. He had missed Charlie so much and it had felt weird sleeping on his own without anyone in the same room as him.<p>

Avery and Watson climbed a steep hill. At the top of the hill was a small dark shed.  
>"This is a shed," Watson told Avery.<br>"Yeah, I know," he replied.  
>"So what are we going to get out of it?" she asked.<br>"I was at the bottom of this hill on the other side before and there were footprints. Those footprints ending up tracking back to the scene of where Charlie got hurt. I'm curious to find out whose footprints they belong to."  
>"Can we get in the shed?"<br>"We can give it a try."  
>They tried the shed door but it wouldn't budge. It was impossible to pick the lock as well.<br>"How are we going to get it open?" asked Avery.  
>"Do you have a gun with you?"<br>"What? Do you want to shoot the door open?"  
>"Well that's the only way..."<br>"But what if this shed is completely fine and it belongs to someone innocent?"  
>"Well I'm afraid that is a chance we are going to have to take."<br>"Eh... Alright then..."  
>Avery pulled out his gun and shot the lock. The aim was perfect and the lock broke off. Watson pulled the door open and they both walked into the shed. It was even darker inside. They couldn't find a light switch so they had to use their torches instead. Unfortunately, they didn't help much so both of them paced slowly all around the shed. Avery's shoe had gotten caught on something and he couldn't move.<br>"Sergeant!" he yelled. "Come over here."  
>"What is it?" asked Watson and she quickly made her way to him.<br>"Shine your torch at my feet."  
>Watson didn't question him and did as she was asked.<br>All she said was, "rope."

_**Next chapter:  
>Is there any significance to the rope?<strong>_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18 **

"A rope?" Avery repeated. He tried to shuffle along the ground to get untangled, but he couldn't.  
>"Can you cut it?" Avery asked Watson.<br>"Yeah, of course, but stay still."  
>Avery heard loud snips from the scissors.<br>"Did you see rope marks on Charlie?" Avery asked Watson as he stepped out of the rope pile.  
>"I don't know... I didn't examine her very closely. How about you? Did you notice any?"<br>"No, I hardly saw her. I've pretty much been at the scene the whole time."  
>"Do you think we can go back to the hospital?"<br>"Yeah, that's a good idea, but before we go, let's get other's to check the rope out and take it back to the station."

"Get the door would you Rubes?" Charlie asked her daughter as soon as she heard someone knocking.  
>"Yeah, sure."<br>Ruby opened the door and was surprised to see Sergeant Watson and Constable Avery standing at the door.  
>"Um hello? Come in," Ruby said politely.<br>"Good afternoon Ruby," said Watson and nodded to Charlie and Brax.  
>"Is there anything we can help you with Serge?" Brax asked.<br>"Yes, there actually is," replied Watson. "Can we please see your hands and legs Charlie?"  
>Charlie couldn't understand why they wanted to see them but showed them anyways. Watson examined them closely.<br>"What do you guys want?" Brax asked.  
>"We're just looking for marks," Avery answered.<br>"What marks?"  
>"I'm sorry but we can't tell you until we find answers for ourselves."<br>"They're not there," Watson told Avery.  
>"Can we ask a doctor?" he replied.<br>"Yeah, good idea." Watson turned to Charlie and said, "Do you remember which doctor checked you in when you first got here?"  
>"Uh... I think Dr. Walker? I'm not too sure though sorry," said Charlie.<br>"Okay, thanks for letting us know. We'll follow it up and check. Sorry for disturbing you," said Watson.

As soon as Ruby closed the door, Watson and Avery starting muttering quietly down the corridor.  
>"This doesn't add up. There was a pile of rope in the shed and Charlie has no marks on her," Watson started.<br>"Maybe they faded?"  
>"Do they really fade that quickly? If the rope was on long enough, she would have rope burn."<br>Fortunately, they saw Dr. Walker.  
>"Sid," shouted Watson.<br>"Sergeant," Dr. Walker greeted.  
>"We've got to ask you a few questions regarding Charlie if that's alright with you?"<br>"Of course. What would you like to know?"  
>"Were you with her on the first day she came here?"<br>"Yes I was."  
>"Do you remember if she had any rope burns or anything along those lines?"<br>"Um... I don't think she did... Hang on; I'll check her records to see if anything has been noted down."  
>Watson and Avery waited patiently for Sid. Avery started a conversation with Watson, but she told him to be quiet immediately.<br>"Listen closely to the voices," she said to him.  
>Avery could only hear bits of a conversation.<br>_"Rope burn..."  
>"How did you get it?"<br>"How do you think?"  
>"Someone tied you?"<br>"No kidding."  
>"Please stop with the attitude," the doctor asked nicely.<br>"Fine, but hurry up would you? I don't have all day."  
>"What's the rush?"<br>"That's none of your business."  
><em>Avery caught Watson's eye.  
>"You don't think it was the other way round do you..?" he asked.<br>"What? Charlie tied him?" replied Watson.  
>"Yeah."<br>"Constable, this could just be a coincidence."  
>"But you heard him. He has rope burn and someone tied him."<br>"Surely this happens everywhere, and I don't think Charlie would do that."  
>"It's called self defense."<br>"Do you want us to ask him about it?"  
>"Yeah, what's the worst that can happen?"<br>"Well first of all, he could be completely innocent."  
>"Well I'm guessing we are going to have to risk it."<br>"Risk what?" Dr. Walker said.  
>"Oh nothing," Avery said quickly. "Did you find Charlie's records?"<br>"Yeah I did. It turns out she did have rope burn, but it was on the inside of her fingers."  
>"But it's faded now, yeah?" Watson said.<br>"Yes it has."  
>"Okay, would it be alright if we asked more questions around here?"<br>Sid wasn't sure of what the two cops were after, but knew he had to agree. "Yes, sure, but don't take too long. Some patients really do need their rest."

_**Next chapter:  
>New leads.<strong>_


	19. Chapter 19

**Thank you to all of you who reviewed the previous few chapters. I'm really sorry about making you all wait this long for this update, I haven't been feeling well at all this past week :/ I'm also sorry if this doesn't make too much sense, it will tie in with the next chapter. I hope you like this chapter though, and please review it (: xxxx**

**Chapter 19 **

Sergeant Watson and Constable Avery pretended to wander around all the rooms so that they wouldn't look so suspicious. They peeked through the doors, all except for one room, where they knocked quietly.  
>"Who is it?" said a doctor's voice.<br>"Sergeant Watson and Constable Avery," said Watson.  
>The doctor opened the door, went outside the room and asked "may I help you?"<br>"Yes you can as a matter of fact," Avery replied.  
>"Would it be alright if you could give us a few minutes with your patient?" asked Watson.<br>"Yes, sure. Come in," the doctor answered.  
>He opened the door and to his surprise, the bed was empty.<br>"What?" exclaimed the doctor. "He was here two minutes ago!"  
>"He's escaped..." Watson said.<br>Avery walked over to the window beside the bed which was left wide open. He looked down but all he saw was the grass.  
>"It looks like he has done a runner," said Avery.<br>"We can go and look for him if you'd like?" Watson asked the doctor.  
>"Yes, that would be a great help. His medicine is waiting for him. The longer he's gone for, the longer he'll have to stay in hospital once he comes back."<br>"Okay, we'll be sure to try and find him as soon as we can," said Avery.  
>"Who are we looking for?" asked Watson.<br>"You mean you don't know?" the doctor said loudly.  
>Both Watson and Avery shook their heads.<br>"Harvey Ryan."  
>Watson and Avery looked stunned.<br>"Is there something wrong?" asked the doctor.  
>"No, no, everything is under control," Avery replied quickly.<br>"We'll be on the hunt for him now," said Watson.  
>"Okay, thank you very much."<p>

"Harvey Ryan, Harvey Ryan," Watson kept muttering his name over and over again as she and Avery drove around the bay and city to look for him.  
>"He wouldn't do this to Charlie would he?" Avery asked.<br>"He doesn't seem like the type. I mean, he doesn't have the best personality, but what would we now about his personal life?"  
>"Maybe it's another Harvey Ryan?"<br>Watson sighed. "How many Harvey Ryan's are out there huh?"  
>"Okay, maybe you do have a point, but since when has Charlie had anything to do with him?"<br>"Who knows? Call the station would you? Tell them to put a trace on his bank account and phone?"  
>"Yeah, sure."<p>

Charlie had taken a short nap once Watson and Avery left. She was exhausted and rest was all she wanted, but it didn't last. Only ten minutes after she fell asleep, pictures started flashing inside her head. She screamed at the top of her lungs. Brax and Ruby raced to her bedside.  
>"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.<br>Charlie started sobbing while she explained to Ruby and Brax. "Every time I try to sleep, all these pictures flash into my head from the day. Usually they're just blurry black and white pictures of the back of bodies, but I just saw a face. It was something I had never seen."  
>"Do you want-"<br>Brax was interrupted. A doctor opened the door without even knocking.  
>"Is everything alright in here?" he asked. "I heard quite a scream just a few minutes ago."<br>"Yeah, everything is fine thanks," Ruby replied.  
>"Okay, be sure to let me know if you need anything," the doctor said quickly and left the room.<br>"Do you want me to call the cops?" Brax asked Charlie.  
>"No, no, there's no need." Charlie didn't want the cops to know about what she had seen. She didn't want to put herself at risk if the flashbacks were muddled up.<br>"Are you sure? They said to tell them everything if you remember new things."  
>"Yeah, I know."<p>

Watson and Avery spent two hours driving around blocks but they couldn't locate Harvey. He hadn't used his phone and bank account since he escaped from the hospital.  
>"Do you think we should call Charlie?" Avery asked.<br>"What? To interview her?"  
>"Yeah."<br>"Eh..."  
>"Why not? She could give us new leads..."<br>"But it's not like she would admit to tying Harvey with rope."  
>"Who said she did tie him in the first place?"<br>"We'll just ask her and see what she says."

_Knock knock. _  
>"Argh. How many more visitors do we need? Can't people understand that we want to spend time with Charlie alone?" Ruby said as she got up to open the hospital room door.<br>"Hello Ruby, Brax, Charlie," Avery greeted.  
>"We've just come here to ask you a few questions, Charlie," Watson told them.<br>"Oh, that's good because Charlie seemed to have remembered something new," Brax said.  
>Uh oh, thought Charlie. She glared at Brax. She told him she didn't want to tell the cops anything.<br>"Wait," Ruby said, "Can I please have a short chat with you outside Brax?"  
>Both of them stepped outside and closed the door behind them.<br>"Charlie clearly said she didn't want them to know anything new!" Ruby whispered loudly.  
>That had completely slipped out of Brax's mind. "Ruby, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot..."<br>"Well now Charlie has to talk her way out of it."  
>With that, both of them went back into the room.<p>

_**Next chapter:  
>Questions and answers between Charlie and the cops.<strong>_


	20. Chapter 20

_**Thank you everyone for reading the previous chapter. Like I said before, the last chapter would've been confusing. Hopefully this chapter will kind of tie everything together. Please review (: xxx**_

**Chapter 20 **

"What is it you wanted to tell us?" Watson asked.  
>Charlie sighed and knew she needed to tell them what she remembered. Back when she was a cop, she remembered that charges would be less serious if you were honest in the first place.<br>"On the day I got hurt, I tried to get myself out of the shed. He had locked me up and had cornered me. I tried my best to get out, but I couldn't. Behind me was a pile of rope. He kept coming at me so in self defense, I started to hurt him with the rope. He was lying on the ground for long enough and that was when I thought it was right to tie him up. That's the flashback I saw."  
>"Thank you for letting us know. Do you know who did this?"<br>"Not really... I could see a face in my flashback, but I couldn't identify it."  
>Watson pulled up a photo onto her phone and handed it to Charlie. "Does this look familiar?"<br>"That's Harvey Ryan..." Charlie stopped talking there. She started to fidget and even more flashbacks went into her head. The arm, body and leg movement he did. The way he forced himself onto her. The way he looked at her. The things he said to her. That was it. Tears flowed down her face.  
>"Was it him?" Watson asked.<br>"Yes, yeah I think so..."  
>"That dirty son of a pig!" Brax yelled. "You've got to lock him up. He can't get away with this. Look at what he has done to my wife. He's completely shaken up my whole family!"<br>"Brax, please calm down," Avery said.  
>Ruby was completely shocked. "How did you know it was him? He has had nothing to do with Charlie during all these years. Why now?"<br>"We overheard him in the hospital talking to the doctors about how he hurt himself," Watson answered.  
>"So he's inside?"<br>"No. It seems to appear that he's done a runner."  
>"What? No way! You have to find him!" Brax shouted at them.<br>"We will. The council has dropped him as the councillor and we have put a trace on his phone and bank account."  
>"That's not good enough! He literally raped Charlie. He scared the hell out of her for who knows how many weeks! How is this legal?"<br>"Like I said before, we will find him. We won't let him get away with this either."  
>"Well it doesn't look like you're doing much to find him," Brax shouted. He shot a long death stare at both cops and leaped out of his seat. Twisting the doorknob furiously, he opened the door and ran out of the room. Ruby ran out after him.<br>"Brax!" she shouted.  
>She was too late. Outside the window, she saw him driving off in his car as quickly as he could.<p>

"Ruby, where did he go?" Charlie asked.  
>"I have no idea. He drove off as if there was no tomorrow."<br>Charlie was beginning to worry. She was scared of how angry her husband could get. Struggling to get words out of her mouth in between tears, she said, "Can you please try to find him? I don't care about Harvey right now. Just find Brax, he is all I want."  
>"I'll get back up," Watson told her.<br>Ruby called Casey and Heath, hoping they would try to find their brother.

Brax was practically an out of control driver. He did so many rough turns down extremely unfamiliar streets in the city. All he wanted to do was fine Harvey and get a taste of his own medicine. Harvey had turned his wife from a beautiful, young and confident woman to someone who couldn't speak without crying. He was suppose to be leading Summer Bay. People in the bay had to respect him because he was their councillor, but obviously that would change once people finds out about what happened to Charlie. Anger was boiling up inside Brax's head that he almost forgot that he was driving. He was so close to running someone over. Luckily he didn't and slammed the brakes on. Reality had hit him and he finally picked up on who was standing right in front of his car. Harvey.

_**Next chapter:  
>What will Brax do with Harvey right in front of him?<strong>_


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21 **

Slamming the brakes of his car. The one thing Brax regretted. He should've kept going. Who cared if he hurt Harvey? Harvey was the one who literally tore Charlie to pieces. She's a completely different person now. Brax unbuckled his seat belt quickly and got out of the car. Harvey saw him coming out and made a run for it. Unfortunately for Harvey, Brax was a lot younger than him and had way more energy. He caught up to Harvey in no time and had him in a head lock.  
>"Let me go!" Harvey demanded.<br>"No," Brax said firmly.  
>Harvey tried to get out of the head lock, but Brax was holding him too tightly. He started kicking and punching at Brax, but he wouldn't let go.<br>"I'm going to tear you apart Harvey! You filthy thug!" Brax shouted.  
>"Don't you have better things to do?"<br>"Actually I don't."  
>"Why don't you go and join that woman of yours in hospital? She wasn't any good to me."<br>"She's not just any woman. Yeah, well she didn't even want to have anything to do with you. She's in hospital now, and it's your entire fault."  
>"People weren't kidding when they said the Braxton's are dumb. You think I did all this? Why don't you ask your wife the whole story?"<br>"Oi, don't you even try to have a go at my family, and don't even dare to put the blame on Charlie. She is innocent. None of this is her fault. She's not retarded like you. She wouldn't put herself in hospital."  
>"Oh, and I'm assuming you would?"<br>Brax started kicking Harvey at his shins.  
>"Why don't you join that wife of yours in hospital too? Is that what you're trying to do?" Harvey said while snickering.<br>Brax had enough of his cheekiness. He let go of the head lock and reached at Harvey's neck before he could escape.  
>"You're going to be in for this!" he shouted.<br>Harvey tried to reply but his throat was all dry. Brax was strangling him too hard and he couldn't speak.

Heath had gotten a call from Ruby, saying that Brax had gone to chase after Harvey. While Casey went to the hospital, Heath was driving around, searching for his brother. He could hear a familiar voice. He went off into the direction of his left, but could no longer hear it. Instead, he went back to his right, and the voice was a lot clearer. He heard Brax yelling his head off and ran closer and closer. The fight was getting messy with both Brax and Harvey punching and kicking at each other, but this was something Heath liked to see. Heath ran to the other side of Harvey, and instead of attempting to stop the fight, he joined in. Without knowing what was going through his brother's mind, Heath started laughing and acting as if this was some game.  
>"Heath, get yourself out of this," Brax told his brother.<br>"No, why should I let you have all the fun?"  
>"This isn't a joke."<br>Heath could hear how firmly his brother spoke and backed away.  
>"Nah, come back Heath, let him join in Brax," Harvey said. "I can watch you slave after two people instead of one."<br>This was the last straw.  
>"I'm going to kill you!" Brax shouted.<br>He punched Harvey even harder. Harvey was struggling to fight back. He fell to the ground, and bruises started appearing. Brax still didn't think this was enough. He kept kicking and blood was all over the place.  
>"So much for the coppers trying to look after Harvey," Heath said under his breath.<p>

Heath backed away from Brax and Harvey and watched his brother take control of his fight.  
>"Have you found Brax yet?" Casey asked the minute Heath answered his call.<br>"Yeah."  
>"Where is he?"<br>"On the far end of the beach."  
>"What's he doing there?"<br>"He and Harvey are having some sort of fight."  
>"Oh god. Are you serious? Have you called the cops?"<br>"Huh? No? Am I suppose to?"  
>Casey sighed. "How dumber could you possibly get?"<br>"I'm sorry, dad."  
>"Well have you tried to stop the fight?"<br>Maybe telling Casey that he joined in wouldn't exactly be the smartest idea... He decided to not reply.  
>"Heath?"<br>"Yeah, what?"  
>"Ugh, never mind. Just call the cops would you?"<br>"Haha okay. Chill out, would ya mate?" Heath said and ended the call.  
><em>There is no way in hell would I call the cops. I want to keep watching to see where Brax takes this, <em>Heath thought to himself. He just stood there, and kept watching Brax tear Harvey apart. They were now both on the ground, and Harvey was starting to fight back.

"Hey! Stop it! Get off each other!"  
>Neither Brax nor Harvey stopped fighting, but Heath turned around to see who had spotted them.<p>

_**Next chapter:  
>Who else is there?<strong>_


	22. Chapter 22

_**Thank you to all of you who have read and reviewed the past few chapters. This is going to be my second to last chapter because I'm completely out of ideas and I feel like it's not going anywhere. The next chapter will pretty much be a recap of the whole story, mainly in Harvey's view, about what happened. I hope you do like it. Let me know what you think (: xxx**_

**Chapter 22 **

Roo was standing at the top of the hill, looking down at the boys.  
>"What are you doing here?" Heath yelled.<br>"This is a free world, I'm allowed to go wherever I want," Roo said as she walked over to Heath.  
>"Lay off each other!" she shouted at Brax and Harvey, but they completely ignored her.<br>"That's it. I'm calling the cops," she told Heath.  
>"No, don't!" Heath exclaimed.<br>"Why not? Do you want to see your brother get hurt by someone like Harvey?"  
>"I thought you liked the guy?"<br>"Are you kidding me? Besides, this isn't about me."

Shortly after, Roo and Heath heard sirens from where they were standing. Even if Brax and Harvey did hear them, they didn't show it. They just kept fighting.  
>"Boys, hands off!" cried Watson.<br>Neither of the two did as they were told.  
>Three cops raced out of the car and tried to stop the fight. One was pulling Brax, another one was pulling Harvey, and the other one was trying to stop the fight from the middle. Brax eventually let go and yelled "you're going to be a dead man soon!" to Harvey. The police officers forced them both onto the ground and hand cuffed them. They were then dragged off to different cars to avoid any conflicts. Heath watched his brother getting driven off by the cops, and followed them closely.<p>

When they arrived at the police station, the officers locked Harvey up immediately. Brax, on the other hand, just had to sign a few papers saying that he wouldn't get out of control at Harvey and was allowed to leave. Luckily for him, Heath was waiting outside the police station and was ready to take him home.

Heath was heading back home before Brax spoke up.  
>"Where are we going? This isn't the way to the hospital," he said.<br>"Yeah, I know. We're going home mate."  
>"What do you mean we're going home? I want to see Charlie."<br>"I don't think that's a good idea."  
>"Why not?"<br>"Are you for real? You completely ditched her and Ruby. They were worried sick about you. How do you think Charlie feels?"  
>"Wait, she knows?"<br>"No kidding."  
>"You told her? You're such an idiot mate!"<br>"Yeah, I'm the idiot because I was the one who got into a fight with the councillor," Heath said sarcastically. "Besides, I didn't tell her. Casey rang me and asked if I'd found you or not. I told him what was going on and well, I guess he told Charlie."  
>"Ugh. That blabbermouth. Just take me to the hospital would you? I'll explain everything to her." Heath knew better than to argue with an angry Brax so he did as he was told.<p>

Charlie let out a mini yell when she saw Brax at the hospital door.  
>"Baby! I was so worried about you!" she exclaimed.<br>"I'm so sorry Charlie." Brax turned to Casey, Ruby and Heath, asking if they could give Charlie and him a minute.  
>"I didn't mean to scare you like that. I wasn't thinking straight and all I wanted to do was get rid of that guy. He hurt you so much and he shouldn't get away with it."<br>"It's all good. The cops have him now so they can take care of whatever needs to be done. I'm just glad you're all right. That's all that matters."  
>"Aww, you're so cute. I promise I won't do anything like that again."<br>Brax lay down on Charlie's bed and kissed her softly.

Down at the police station, Harvey had been stuck behind bars for an hour already. He was awfully annoyed about how Brax got away with hurting him.  
>"Mr. Ryan."<br>Harvey looked up and saw a constable standing in front of him.  
>"Sergeant Watson would like to speak to you now," he said while unlocking the door of the jail. Harvey was then dragged off into the interview room.<p>

_**Next chapter:  
>Harvey's side of the whole story.<br>(This should clear up any confusion because it goes back to day one.)**_


	23. Chapter 23

_**Thank you for reading, reviewing and tweeting me about this story. I appreciate it heaps. As I said in my previous chapter, this will be my last chapter of the story. I hope you have enjoyed this story, and the prequel to it (Wedding Of The Opposites). Please let me know what you think about this chapter. Fingers crossed it's alright. If you have any confusion, feel free to PM me (: xxx**_

**Chapter 23 **

"Harvey Ryan... Summer Bay EX councillor..." Sergeant Watson said as she paced around the interview room. "What do you have to say for yourself?"  
>"You didn't ask me a question," replied Harvey.<br>"Charlie Buckton. What did you do to her?"  
>"Don't you mean, 'why did she do to me?'"<br>"Don't go blaming it on her. We both know you're guilty so if you were smart, you'd work with me here. Why did you send her those text messages?"  
>"What text messages?"<br>"Oh, don't pretend like you don't remember anything. The messages you sent to Charlie's phone a few weeks ago that led to you almost sexually assaulting her."  
>Harvey stared at Watson blankly.<br>"So you still don't remember? How about I read one out to you? I wonder if it will ring any bells? 'I know where you are. I've got bottles for us tonight so let's get wasted. Forget about condoms, my sperm is ready for you.' That was the latest one you sent to her wasn't it?"  
>Harvey didn't say anything. Instead he went bring red.<br>"See, we both know this is your fault. If you tell me what happened from the very beginning, your charges will be less serious."  
>Knowing it would be the right thing to do; Harvey finally gave in and began speaking.<p>

"I sent the first message to her as a joke. I randomly typed a number in, assuming it would be funny. I didn't even know it was her number. Anyways, when I did, I remembered how hot she was and thought she could be mine."  
>"You thought it was funny to send messages like that? How low are you?"<br>"Yeah, well that didn't hit me then."  
>Watson rolled her eyes at Harvey. "Obviously, and you didn't know she's married?"<br>"What difference does that make?"  
>"You really are pathetic. I don't know how you got elected into the council. Anyways, carry on."<br>"With?"  
>"Why didn't you stop the messages?"<br>"I told you, I thought it was a joke."  
>"How did you know where she was?"<br>"You call this being a cop?" Harvey was getting annoyed with all this interrogation. He just wanted to go home.  
>"Don't change the subject. This is my job. Now tell me, how do you know where she lives?"<br>"Summer Bay is a small town."  
>"Then how did you know where and when she was going on holiday?"<br>"Like I said before, it's a small town. Word gets round."  
>"Alright then, if you say so. The impression I'm getting from this is that you thought it was funny to cyber bully someone, and then assault her, as well as getting involved into a fight with her husband? Charlie didn't even know who was texting her. She was scared and couldn't stay anywhere by herself. She made so many mistakes at work because she couldn't concentrate properly. The whole Braxton family had to cancel their holiday because of you. The holiday was a time for them to have some space to their selves, but you decided to hurt her. She is in hospital because of you."<br>"That fight was not my fault. Brax came at me."  
>"Is that all you have to say? Nothing explains to me why you assaulted her. She's done nothing to harm you."<br>"She's sexy. You can't help it," Harvey said carelessly.  
>Sergeant Watson was completely shocked. This was coming from someone who the town was suppose to be respect. As well as that, Harvey was who knows how many years older than Charlie! Well at least he looked like it.<br>"You. Are. So. Creepy," Watson told him.  
>Harvey didn't seem to mind about what she thought.<br>"Can I go home now?" he asked.  
>"Are you insane? You think I would let you go for assaulting someone? Harvey Ryan, due to assaulting Charlie Buckton, you are sentenced to jail for five years."<br>Two constables came into the interview room and took him away.


End file.
